There are hints in some of the later timeline books (Port Eternity, Serpent's Reach etc) of even darker elements to come in the longer term iirc - the 40 year limit for example.

And I was thinking about Cyteen again just last week.  I'd come across a screening of The Boys From Brazil on tv.   It's a film I'd never seen before and it was quite striking how much of Cyteen it paralleled with the clones and the parental surrogates.


 

Aja Jin wrote:

In a FB thread awhile back, someone mentioned Cyteen as distopic, and that Regenesis had "some glimmers of hope". 

CJ replies: "And change is in progress. I'm not through with that story".

So, as I read it, she's working on a third book. Interesting. 

I guess "Alliance Unbound" is next (but Amazon shows it for January 9, 2024 WTF??) , then a Foreigner book, and then ?? 



 

I’d love to see it continue. I was not wholly satisfied with the sequel, partly for the reasons you quote. I hope she doesn’t pour too much cream in the coffee!

starexplorer wrote:

Aja Jin wrote:

In a FB thread awhile back, someone mentioned Cyteen as distopic, and that Regenesis had "some glimmers of hope". 

CJ replies: "And change is in progress. I'm not through with that story".

So, as I read it, she's working on a third book. Interesting. 

I guess "Alliance Unbound" is next (but Amazon shows it for January 9, 2024 WTF??) , then a Foreigner book, and then ?? 



 

I’d love to see it continue. I was not wholly satisfied with the sequel, partly for the reasons you quote. I hope she doesn’t pour too much cream in the coffee!

Regnesis, to me, read a lot like a Foreigner book
 

Surtac wrote:

Parts of Cyteen may not be fiction for much longer.

I found this article in amongst my newsletter feeds this morning.
Scientist has world’s worst solution to Europe’s declining population (thenextweb.com)

 

Truly horrifying 

joekc6nlx wrote:

But isn't that the same "uterine replicator" on which Lois McMaster Bujold centered much of her Vorkosigan series?  Granted, the article's picture looks more like "Brave New World" than the Vorkosiverse.  I can see the advantages of being able to bring the child to full-term without endangering the mother, although I don't believe we're anywhere near the type of "gene cleaning" Bujold also mentions.  Suppose the mother has a terminal disease, or is involved in an accident which could result in being fatal, would it be immoral to save the fetus by putting it into a replicator? Being male, I realize this doesn't directly affect me, even more so since I'm not a parent. 
 

I think you are right that an artificial external uterus to benefit baby and mother may be a valuable technology. This has already been developed in research using sheep:
https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/25/15421734/artificial-womb-fetus-biobag-uterus-lamb-sheep-birth-premie-preterm-infant

If were limited to that, and not to the rest of the eugenic story, maybe we’re good to go. The whole business of increasing the birth rate and population through technology like this seems both dangerous, and not what the world needs to sustain its environment and ecosystems.